The most important thing i've yet to hear a yes or no about...

[ChaotikVisions]

Probably a no, but I can always hope. Are weapons capable of destroying planets still in? Can I continue the galatic purge that ended when my MoO2 cd started gathering dust, or must I be forced to appease myself just with the mass genocide of the other races?

[Craig P.]

"glassing" a planet was still in at some point. I haven't heard that it's out, but I also haven't heard any reference to it within the last few weeks.

That isn't quite as drastic as the MoO2 version, but on the other hand, once it's glassed I'm not sure you can build it back like you could in MoO2.

[booje]

I've read nothing that seems to suggest that planet destroying is in. There's lots of talk about NBC (nuclear of which I would presume would make life on the planet uninhabitable for most races).

In the absence of any information about destroying entire planets, I think it's safe to assume it's not in.

[kalbear]

There were screenshots of one of the options when you invade a planet to be 'destroy' that planet.

Other folks have talked about that ability as well.

In some way or another, you will have the ability to destroy a planet.

[DRoseDARs]

I'm gonna be annoyed if we find out we cannot totally obliterate a planet, tunring it into nothing more than a debris field a la MOOII. Stellar Conveters were my favorite weapon because they were the only ones that could remove those pesky Toxic Planets, allowing me to rebuild the newly formed asteroid belt into a useful, terraformable planet. If there isn't a equivalent to the useless Toxic planet in MOOIII, then the ability to dust a planet won't be sorely missed by me, but I'll still be annoyed.

[kalbear]

To my knowledge, there are no planets that can't be turned into paradises aside from the booby-trapped ones. All planets can be eventually t-formed, though it might take some mighty expensive resources to do so.

[Craig P.]

As I understand it, it's generally not practical to terraform red planets to green. It not only costs massive amounts of money to get it there, it then costs massive amounts of money to KEEP it there.

I've read nothing that seems to suggest that planet destroying is in.

At the very least, glassing a planet was mentioned in a chat transcript. Might have been in an IGMOO post too. I'm 100% certain it was in at some point. I'm not certain it's still in, but it seems like it would be more probable than not.

[Daveybaby]

IIRC, 'glassing' a planet renders it pretty much uninhabitable to any species (but it can still be terraformed back) and reduces its size permanently by 1.

Not sure if you can totally destroy a planet though, whether in one go or by glassing it down to nothing over time.

However - there are no uninhabitable planets, as long as you have the resources to make them habitable, so the toxic problem does not exist. But : there is no planet construction from asteroid fields either. At one stage you were going to be able to colonise and mine asteroid fields directly (prison colonies was going to be one use for them), but i think that may have been cut.

[amniodarone]

From what I have read... and with hints from the beta testers...you cannot destroy a planet and watch it break up (i.e. stellar converter in Moo2). You can destroy all life and structures on said planet and leave it "glassed". I miss this too. Converting a pesky planet to its asteroid state was great fun.... and maybe just a bit too

[Epistax]

Sorry for being a dumbass, but what exactly does "glassing" entail?

I do like the idea of planetcide being a viable option. Or even, build a colony in a system, and have it use another planet as a scrap heap, eventually using the whole thing.

Genocide is always good too. I'd hope they've come with with something better than "bioterminators".


grrr. riight. it kills everyone on the planet but is immediately safe to be resettled, by the same race even. Oh and all the rest of the planet/animal life is perfectly fine. ahem?
Oh and you want to use a bioterminator on this planet? Well it has no air, so I doubt pouring toxic chemicals on it will effect anyone, as they have an isolated environment.

gah
heheheheh

[rhofman]

"Glassing" a planet just refers to nuking the entire planet.

When a nuclear devices is detonated in a desert it causes the ground to become glass due to the intense heat. I don't know for sure but I would imagine that it would have a similar effect on dirt, rock or concrete for that matter.

According to some tree hugging, pot smoking peaceniks it's evil, evil I tells ya.

[gunnergoz]

Actually, is the silica in the sand that glazes up, isn't it? And I don't believe it's in everything mentioned. But I'm no geologist.

Could give new meaning to the phrase "They took it up the Glass..."

[viciouscycle]

Technically speaking (and yes, I am a geologist) glasses are typically based on silicon dioxide, boric oxide, or aluminum oxide. The most common of course is silica-based glass and yes, sand is mostly silicon dioxide but you do get some impurities here and there in varying amounts.

Not everything you heat sufficiently will turn into glass per se though I imagine that if you were to heat the surface of a whole planet sufficiently with energy weapons and then let it cool off, you would end up with a planet that appears glazed over.

edit: almost forgot...

Soils contain enough silica and aluminum and oxygen to be turned into glass. There is a remedial technology known as In-situ vitrification where you stick a bunch of electrodes in the ground and run a huge current through them to "melt" the soil. The soil then cools quickly and encapsulates whatever nasty contamination you have in a nice glass package. Kinda cool.

And as a final bit of trivia, lightning strikes can sometimes create fulgurites in sandy soil. Same idea, the lightning heats the soil so much that it turns it into glass which leaves an "imprint" of the lightning bolt in the ground. Megahighlycool.

[Jamski]

Why can't I buy a fulgurite? What a cool word

-Jam

[rhofman]

Thanks Vicious.

It may be out of your area but what would happen to concrete if it was heated to the insane temperature caused by nuclear detonation?